chastening the guilty. But dare we suppose that he has permitted the existence of what it must thus be evident he cannot honourably controul? Dare we think that he has allowed an order of things to rise into being, the management of which must render it necessary that he should become the opposite of himself, the pattern of that evil which he has so solemnly proscribed? No,-death is the wages of sin, and its universality is decisive as to the universality of that taint which the term "sin" is employed to denote.

In brief, the doctrine of scripture on this important subject is, that the human race are as one body, of which Adam is the head; just as the church is one body, of which Christ is the head. Adam fell, and all the members of his mystical nature fell with him. Christ is glorified, and all the members of his mystical body are reserved to a participation in that glory. This is the doctrine of scripture; and delivered by Paul with a plainness which should have precluded all doubt in relation to it. His statement is,―That as by one man's disobedience many many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. He adds moreover,―That the law entered that the offence might abound, or seem to do so, from its being more fully detected, and more loudly condemned. But he then triumphantly observes,- Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our

Lord. We say not that there are no difficulties in this doctrine. It demands the submission of the finite to the Infinite. But we contend, that the man who rejects this view of things, must soon find himself encircled by others much more formidable. Could he banish the obnoxious doctrine of visiting the sins of the fathers, in any form, upon the children, from the Bible; it is obvious that no ingenuity can possibly separate it from the system of providence. In every nation, and in every age, children have been called to reap the fruit of parental delinquency, or to bear the consequence of sins on the part of their progenitors to which they were not themselves in the slightest degree consenting. Thus disease, reproach, poverty, and, to a great extent, even moral character, are manifestly hereditary. Thus nature confirms revelation; and both join to shut up the heterodox man to a denial of the divine agency in either, or to an acknowledgement of it in both.

There is doubtless a sense in which, as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. This will not only be seen as true, in the event of the general resurrection, but in the decisions then to be proclaimed. Then it will appear, that the mediatorial work of the Redeemer has so intimate a reference to the manner in which sin has entered the world, by means of the first transgression, that among those who perish, none will be found who have not made their original depravity their own, by adding to it the guilt of actual trespasses. A

kind of justification has thus passed upon all flesh; leaving the doom of every man to be determined, not so much by what was done on the part of his first parents, as by his own practical approval of their doings. He may speak of their ways as their folly, but, by becoming himself a sinner, he makes their example his own.

What the condition of mankind would have been, apart from the peculiar ground on which they are placed by the intervention of the work of Christ, is a speculation in which we need not indulge. Our great business should be, to avail ourselves of the best means of providing against the evils which actually press upon us, and not to waste our time or capacity in imagining circumstances that were not to exist, or in conceiving of remedies, and means of alleviation that were never to be needed. It would seem, however, to be unquestionable, that if our condemnation be a proceeding of strict equity, our redemption must be a matter of pure favour. If we have deserved to find our home in the abodes of darkness, we cannot have been entitled to a place in the realms of light. This may sound very like a truism, yet how much is included in it!

It may now be proper to ask, wherein is the difference between this view of human nature, and that generally entertained? In endeavouring to ascertain the opinions of men with regard to this point, there are two classes which mainly arrest

Lord. We say not that there are no difficulties in this doctrine. It demands the submission of the finite to the Infinite. But we contend, that the man who rejects this view of things, must soon find himself encircled by others much more formidable. Could he banish the obnoxious doctrine of visiting the sins of the fathers, in any form, upon the children, from the Bible; it is obvious that no ingenuity can possibly separate it from the system of providence. In every nation, and in every age, children have been called to reap the fruit of parental delinquency, or to bear the consequence of sins on the part of their progenitors to which they were not themselves in the slightest degree consenting. Thus disease, reproach, poverty, and, to a great extent, even moral character, are manifestly hereditary. Thus nature confirms revelation; and both join to shut up the heterodox man to a denial of the divine agency in either, or to an acknowledgement of it in both.

There is doubtless a sense in which, as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. This will not only be seen as true, in the event of the general resurrection, but in the decisions then to be proclaimed. Then it will appear, that the mediatorial work of the Redeemer has so intimate a reference to the manner in which sin has entered the world, by means of the first transgression, that among those who perish, none will be found who have not made their original depravity their own, by adding to it the guilt of actual trespasses. A

kind of justification has thus passed upon all flesh; leaving the doom of every man to be determined, not so much by what was done on the part of his first parents, as by his own practical approval of their doings. He may speak of their ways as their folly, but, by becoming himself a sinner, he makes their example his own.

What the condition of mankind would have been, apart from the peculiar ground on which they are placed by the intervention of the work of Christ, is a speculation in which we need not indulge. Our great business should be, to avail ourselves of the best means of providing against the evils which actually press upon us, and not to waste our time or capacity in imagining circumstances that were not to exist, or in conceiving of remedies, and means of alleviation that were never to be needed. It would seem, however, to be unquestionable, that if our condemnation be a proceeding of strict equity, our redemption must be a matter of pure favour. If we have deserved to find our home in the abodes of darkness, we cannot have been entitled to a place in the realms of light. This may sound very like a truism, yet how much is included in it!

It may now be proper to ask, wherein is the difference between this view of human nature, and that generally entertained? In endeavouring to ascertain the opinions of men with regard to this point, there are two classes which mainly arrest